India is really cranking up
military aviation contracts. Even as the $4.1 billion deal for 10
American C-17 Globemaster-III strategic airlift aircraft awaits the
final nod from the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), another major
contract is now headed that way.

Defence ministry sources on Wednesday said the long-awaited deal with
France for the upgrade of 52 Mirage-2000 multi-role fighters in IAF's
combat fleet is "finally ready" at a cost of almost Rs 11,000 crore
($2.4 billion).

"This is also now going to CCS for approval. Another big contract, which
was being progressed simultaneously, for around 450 MICA (interception
and aerial combat missiles) systems to arm the upgraded Mirages is also
in the final stages now," said a source.

This comes after long-drawn negotiations with French companies Dassault
Aviation (aircraft manufacturer), Thales (weapons systems integrator)
and MBDA (missile supplier), which were "initially asking for much
more", said sources.

Under the contract, the first four to six Mirages will be upgraded in
France, while the rest will be retrofitted in India by Hindustan
Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) with transfer of technology from the French
companies.

This means the overall Mirage upgrade package, including the
fire-and-forget MICA missiles and the infrastructure build-up at HAL,
will eventually cross the Rs 15,000-crore mark.

It obviously raises questions whether it would be more prudent to simply
buy new fighters rather than upgrade older ones at such a huge cost.
IAF, however, argues the "retrofitted" Mirages -- with new avionics,
radars, mission computers, glass cockpits, helmet-mounted displays,
electronic warfare suites, weapon delivery and precision-targeting
systems -- would remain "top-notch fighters" for almost two decades
more.

With a depleting number of fighter squadrons (each has 16 to 18 jets),
down to just 32 from a `sanctioned strength' of 39.5, IAF is going for a
mix of upgrades and new inductions to stem its fast-eroding combat edge
over even Pakistan.

There is, for instance, the ongoing upgrade of 63 MiG-29s under a $964
million deal inked with Russia in March 2008. Then, India is also
progressively inducting the 272 Sukhoi-30MKIs contracted from Russia for
around $12 billion. Moreover, the first lot of the around 120
indigenous Tejas Light Combat Aircraft will begin joining the force from
end-2013 onwards.